| Ddisgrifiad / Description | The photograph shows Pen y Clip on the Penmaenmawr to Llanfairfechan stretch of the coast road looking towards Llanfairfechan during the late 1930s. The road itself was improved with the aid of grants from the Roads Fund between 1930 - 1935. At Pen y Clip the road along the rocky coast has always been a source of difficulty to traffic. According to H. L. North in his book, 'The Seven Roads Across Penmaenmawr' the earliest way across the coast was a track attributed to the hermit Seriol who lived in the sixth century. At the time of Charles I it was known as the 'King's Highway' and it was in some places 'scarce a yarde and a quarter of a yarde' wide. The road was maintained by a hermit, who subsisted upon the charity of 'disposed people and passengers' and other similar sources. This method of maintenance was not uncommon at this time.
It was in 1811 that Thomas Telford was employed by the Government to improve and reconstruct the old Mail Coach Road, however, because of constant improvement to the road due to erosion, the road itself had been heightened, in all seven times, the present road being the seventh and at this height since 1935.
Original Index No. K0051. |